


OUT Magazine Lifestyle Interview

by Himi (greighish)



Series: No Sweet Talk* [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Interview, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 21:40:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5264606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greighish/pseuds/Himi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The epilogue is set a little over a year after the end of the story. They’ve settled into their new home and while Kise couldn’t have his day on House Hunters International (he was kind of serious about that), he’s interesting enough for OUT magazine to want to do a feature on him and his s/o for their lifestyle section. So the epilogue is a questions-excluded interview with Kise and Kagami as they talk about their new home and their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [1/8]: Vestibule

**Author's Note:**

> Rooms created in [room styler](http://roomstyler.com/).

  
  


**Kise** : Welcome to our home! It's great,  _right_? It’s a quiet neighborhood and in a good location--that was ultimately why we picked it. The house is situated on a hill in a pseudo-development style area; we have neighbors, but as you can see, they're not exactly next door. It looks like we’re in the country, but if you drive four, five minutes either way, you’ll see we’re not at all.

**Kagami** : When we started looking for at houses, Ryouta said that he didn’t like being accosted by everything as soon as he walked in. We toured 11 houses, only two had some form of an entryway to kind of ease you into the living space and this place was not one of them. Originally, the right wall was a  _wide_  opening that looked into the living room.

  
  


**Kise** : I had to keep an open mind since we weren’t building from scratch. After envisioning a wall there the second time we viewed the house, I told Taiga that if we could do that, the house would be one of the ones at the top of my list.

**Kagami** : It was an experience, but I'd had enough of completely gutting out a place with my condo, so I didn’t want to do a whole lot of remodeling. We agreed that if there was more than the new wall, the plan for the office, and the reworking of the master suite that Ryouta suggested when we first visited, we’d have to scratch this house off the list.

  
  


**Kise** : Amazingly, we managed to avoid any other major remodeling.

  
  


**Kagami** : Yeah, it was  _amazing_  how many changes I had to talk you out of. But this space was pretty straightforward; with the exception of the map of Los Angeles, which was my choice, all the furnishings were his. Though we had to agree on the wallpaper since it was going to be used in the hall, too.

  
  


**Kise** : Then, because of an incident involving an invasion of our privacy, Taiga insisted that the lights in the genkan-- oh, I mean the...um...vestibule...that the lights in here and the hall be equipped with motion sensors. Plus, if they only come on when we are in the space, it will save us a bit on our energy bill.

  
  


**Kagami** : Especially because  _somebody_  has a bad habit of leaving lights on when they're not in use. I had to work with the security company to set up a system where the rest of the house is set to motion detection for some time after the alarm is disarmed for occupation and other situations.

**Kise** : So once we're in the house, we can still see if there is movement in rooms we're not in. Taiga’s so smart!


	2. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [2/8]: Hall, Powder Room, & Utility Area

  
  


**Kise** : At the other end of the hall is the kitchen. On the right are the doors to the living room, the powder room, and the utility area. They were all original to the house...the doors, that is.

  
  


**Kagami** : But we removed the doors from the kitchen entrance and put them on the new entrance to the living room.

  
  


**Kise** : Taiga called the previous owners perverts because all of the doors have clear glass panes...even the bathrooms! That’s why you’ll see curtains behind them. I chose all the artwork down this hall.

  
  


  
  


**Kagami** : The powder room, as well as the one his office and the guest bathroom are 100% Ryouta. There wasn’t much to do in the utility area. It’s just laundry and serves as a gangway to the garage and his office. But I chose the paint color.

  
  


**Kise** : I was surprised at his choice, but it’s a really nice color. It reminds me of strawberry sorbet.

  
  


**Kagami** : ...It does... _doesn’t it_?

**Kise** : ...Taiga, you didn’t!

**Kagami** : And what if I did?

**Kise** : I can’t believe you chose a color because it reminds you of the first food you ate...off of me...  _Oh, Taiga_ , you used to be so innocent! What happened?!

**Kagami** : Not that I was in anyway innocent, but... _you_  happened.

**Kise** : Oh, in that case, good job me!

  
  


  
  


**Kagami** : Moving on... The hall on the left leads to the master suite, two guest bedrooms and the guest bathroom. He told me to hang stuff down this hall. I didn’t have the slightest idea what I should do with the space. I had basketball stuff on my walls when I was younger, but that was really about it. When I got older, anything beyond picking furniture was more than I cared to do. I mean, there were a handful of images that have really stuck with me over the years, but, looking back, I realize that I was never really settled in my previous homes, so I never got into decorating them to that extent. But this place being ours--mine and his--it didn’t seem so strange. It was hard to track down some of the photos. Eventually, I did find most of them. So my hall is kind of a tribute to jazz and soul and some of my favorite artists.

**Kise** : This choice also surprised me. I expected basketball everywhere; he had a lot of signed and framed posters and all kinds of stuff in the back of his closet.

**Kagami** : Well, that stuff was in my office at the studio, but when I decided to end the show, I didn’t have anyplace to put it. And now it’s all in my office at the university.


	3. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [3/8]: Living Room

  
  


**Kagami** : If it was just us, we wouldn’t care about doing anything to the living room.

  
  


  
  


**Kise** : Yeah, we usually spend most of our time reading, watching TV, and hanging out in the bedroom. But with Taiga’s position at the university and his role in the mentor program, I thought that he would probably be entertaining, for one reason or another, at least once a month, so I figured we shouldn’t skimp on this room. This was all Taiga, though.

  
  


**Kagami** : I tried to combine the looks of both of our living rooms. My monochromatic aesthetic married to Ryouta’s obsession with color. The mural was first seen by Ryouta when he went to Belgium for the first time. An American photographer was exhibiting there. He sent a pic of it to me. Even though I’ve changed phones three times since then, I kept it on the card.

  
  


**Kise** : Even after all these years... He’s so cute!

  
  


**Kagami** : I picked out the maps because he likes maps. I was trying to find one I could live with for the mural before I decided to pursue the use of the photo.

**Kise** : I was in London when Taiga was looking for pillows. He sent me about 50-60 close-up pictures of them and told me to pick about 10 or so that I liked. I had no clue what I was picking, so when I came back and saw those familiar patterns...

  
  


**Kagami** : He was so happy, I thought he was going to cry.

  
  


**Kise** : He was so cute for doing that! We had a lot of sex that night.

**Kagami** :  _Ryou_ , would you--!


	4. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [4/8]: Kitchen and Dining Area

  
  


**Kise** : I  _do_  cook, but not often and it’s usually just breakfast. And it’s really not fair when you live with a world-famous chef. This is Taiga’s domain.

  
  


**Kagami** : I’ll occasionally play guest chef at one of my restaurants, but I’ve pretty much hung up my celebrity chef apron. For years now, Kahi has continued to flourish under the management of my senpai, Koganei and Mitobe. It’s basically their place, but every year my share in the profits drops by 2%, so in another five years, the place will really be all theirs. By default, since I’m closer, my restaurant in Philly, Citrine, has been getting most of my attention since I started it three years ago. I’m still in charge of the menu and I make an attempt to run the kitchen two weekends a month.

  
  


**Kise** : He tries, but he’s so busy, but he left it in capable hands. And now, without the constant rush of a public service kitchen, he no longer needs that antiseptic room he called a kitchen to counteract the chaos.

  
  


**Kagami** : Not  _antiseptic_ ,  _clean_. I still prefer a  _clean_  look, but I was willing to branch out a bit for this. It’s my second favorite place in the house.

  
  


**Kise** : He asked my opinion on the chairs and the wallpaper, but he pretty much chose everything himself. The base cabinets were already there, but he switched out the upper cabinets bought new appliances because the previous owners took theirs with them. The bookcase was his choice as well and includes the three full sets of the eight cookbooks from the eight seasons that his show aired--one set in English, one in Japanese, and one in Spanish.

**Kagami** : There’s also books from fellow chefs, a lot of the books Ryouta collected on his travels, and boxes of polaroids and scribbled recipes of the food I make.

  
  


**Kise** : I think some of the photos from my trips are over there, too.

  
  


**Kagami** : Yeah, I think so. Now that Ryouta works from home full-time, we get to eat dinner together more often. He was used to finishing his food and moving on to the next thing, but I’m a lingerer. I like to hangout afterwards.

**Kise** : I had to get used to that when we started hanging out. But it was nice. We always had really good conversations. Sometimes it was like time stopped. I think I needed that kind of thing in my life back then. Buuuut, it was during one such dinner way back when that I realized that it was no longer what I considered harmless flirting and that I was really falling for him.

  
  


**Kagami** : Is that so?

  
  


**Kise** : I got scared and when I first realized, I was still kind of attached. I had a lot to figure out. Though, some stuff I didn’t until recently. It didn’t happen right away, but that pretty much sent me off and running to Brussels.

**Kagami** : Seriously?!  _That’s_  why you disappeared?!

**Kise** : Yeah...sorry. That aside, this space is so pretty; I really want to christen it.

**Kagami** : No way. Not the kitchen.

**Kise** : ...Not yet.


	5. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [5/8]: Home Office/Studio

**Kise** : I wanted a space that could easily be converted into a gallery. The bulk of my work is still in fashion design focusing on branding, but I’ve spent the last three years finding my way through textile design. I’ve had a few private showings of my and some of my staff’s work.

 **Kagami** : There’s photography, too.

**Kise** : Yeah, but that’s more of a hobby. Recently I’ve started to develop an interest in photography beyond spur of the moment travel photos...maybe one day far, far into the future I’ll considering holding a private showing or two for some of those efforts. Maybe not. But it’d be a good use of the space. If it wasn’t for stuff like that, I wouldn’t need so much space. It’s just me and my two main assistants; the other three work from home and come here about once a week.

 **Kagami** : Ryouta initially wanted the wallpaper in our bedroom closet, but it was too much for me. Since he wanted to use it in a place he could see it everyday and I didn’t want it in the house at all, I suggested the office.

**Kise** : But it wasn’t like settling, I really love it here. It’s actually better. This space was completely blank when we bought house, so the choice of the wallpaper so early on pretty much set the mood. Taiga chose the bookcase that’s being used as a sculpture in the waiting area, but other than that, everything else was me. Oh, but I did copy Taiga’s glass wall idea from our bathroom.

**Kagami** : Since this was really all him, I didn't get too involved with the planning and I didn’t come here much during the renovations, so when I saw the glass, I was kind of surprised. I don’t come here much now either, so I always have to take it in; it’s such a nice space.

**Kise** : If it’s so nice, you should visit more.

**Kagami** : It’s not like I  _never_  come in here.

**Kise** : True... I’m always surprised when he does. It’s really cute, though. Taiga’ll bring his laptop and pull up a chair and work with us all quiet like. Once he even brought goodies!

 **Kagami** : And like he forgot where he was, he started purring and rubbing his head on my shoulder as thanks.

 **Kise** : Yeah, but you pet me in return. And with all his fussing, you'd think he hates PDA.

**Kagami** : You _know_  I don’t like it.

 **Kise** : Oh, is that right? Then how come me having to _stop_ my PDA was a “con” when we were pro-conning moving back home, hm?

 **Kagami** : ...

 **Kise** : Right. Anyway~ my staff thinks we’re an idiotic couple, but I think they all secretly want to be like us. I mean, who wouldn’t?!


	6. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [6/8]: Guest Quarters

 

  


**Kagami** : I wasn’t too concerned with what happened with the guest rooms, especially since we wouldn’t be having any overnight guests for a year. That was Ryou’s insistence.

 **Kise** : I don’t know why you think it’s weird.

 

  


**Kagami** : I don’t think it’s weird, it’s just not something I would have considered.  You wanted it to just be ours for the first year, but I didn’t care either way, so I just agreed.

 

  


**Kise** : Since we wouldn’t need them, the guest quarters remained empty for like, the first five months. And when we finally got around to it, he was all “do your thing.” But I insisted that he choose the appointments for at least one of the rooms. I took the first guest room and the bathroom and he took the room across the hall from us.

 

  


**Kagami** : Sometimes I think we _are_ an idiotic couple.

 **Kise** : Maybe. We seem to regard each other in strange and subtle ways and that was something we kind of realized in a very definite way when we were done with our rooms. I took my cue from his old place, his living room and office in particular. I always thought they were too sterile, actually, every place except for the bedroom was kind of stark. So I tried to imagine what they could have been like if they maintained his basic aesthetic, but had a little extra personality injected into them.

 

  


**Kagami** : Mine was a bit different. Back when we first started hanging out, like early, early on, he went to France for a bit and he just loved the look of the gîte he rented. And he basically lost his mind over the bedroom. Before he even unpacked, he sent me a bunch of pictures of it. Like I said, it was early on, so I wasn’t quite used to Ryouta’s habit of inundating me with things he was excited about, and even if I thought I was, I didn’t get the pictures of the gîte. You see him, you’ve seen a lot of his work, right? It’s all color and energy and “you can’t help but notice me.” But the images of the gîte were nothing like that; it seemed too serene. It wasn’t until weeks later that he mentioned how calming the place was for him and if he ever went missing, that was where I could find him. At the time, though, I thought that part was a joke.

 **Kise** : I only started  _really_  getting it relatively recently, but Taiga’s really sentimental--he keeps all kinds of stuff and he kept those pictures and used them as reference when he did the room.

 

  


**Kagami** : We agreed on a list of things the rooms should have at minimum, but we didn’t reveal our rooms until we finished, though he did try to peek a few times. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw his room, because I knew exactly what he was going for. But when Ryouta saw mine, he says he wasn’t, but I’m telling you, he was crying.

 **Kise** : I keep telling you, I wasn’t.

 **Kagami** : Well, your eyes were wet and your face was leaking.

 **Kise** : I wasn’t, but I did actually run away, but the gîte was already being rented when I needed it. However, the owner had a similar place in Brussels and that’s how I ended up there.

 

  


**Kagami** : The chests of draws were his and they were just sitting in storage, so it’s not all that strange that we both used them, but the ceiling light is something else altogether.

 

  


**Kise** : I think we both marked that one when we were doing our bedroom, but we decided to go with something else.

 

  


**Kagami** : What was your thing for the bathroom?

 

  


**Kise** : Truthfully, I was running out of steam, but fortunately I didn’t have to do much with it. I chose the armoire, the towel heater, the curtains, and the yellow; everything else was already there.


	7. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [7/8]: Master Suite - Bedroom and Walk-in Closet

  
  


**Kise** : Taiga sleeps on the side closest to the door and I sleep near the window. Somehow it’s just like that. His clothes are on the right side of the closet and mine are on the left. He keeps his toiletries in the cabinet above the right sink and mine are on the left. I think we both used to sleep in the middle of our beds when we slept alone, but we’ve never really had a discussion about sides; it just turned out this way.

  
  


  
  


**Kagami** : Yeah... I never noticed it until now, though.

  
  


  
  


**Kise** : He loved his cave-like bedroom at his old place so very much, but I always had to open the curtains; I prefer a lighter atmosphere for where I’m sleeping.

  
  


**Kagami** : I told him that he could choose anything for the wall treatments and accent colors so long as I got to choose the bed--no arguments--and we would have a more subdued bathroom. I still want to do something else with the windows and I’m favor of keeping with the rest of the house, but since he wants to do something else we haven’t been able to agree on anything.

  
  


**Kise** : So we just left the blinds that came with the house.

  
  


**Kagami** : And as I mentioned earlier, I had to say no to the closet wallpaper, so he chose this one instead. I asked him many times if he was sure about the size of the closet because it was relatively small in his plans, but he ended up donating a lot of his clothes before we moved. Though he’s all about seasonal rotation, so he keeps the rest stored safely in the storage room in the garage.

  
  


**Kise** : if I made the closet any bigger, we would have lost room in the bathroom and we needed every inch. Shrinking the bedroom was also out of the question. And don’t act like you don’t a lot of clothes, too.

  
  


**Kagami** : And whose fault is that?

**Kise** : Certainly not mine.


	8. Kagami-Kise Residence, Undisclosed Location [8/8]: Master Bath

  


**Kise** : This was the first collaboration, I think. My floorplan and color accents. And Taiga picked the main color palette, the hardware and fixtures. And he added the glass partitions. He has a strange fondness for rectangles.

  


**Kagami** : It’s not strange. When we were looking at the house, we spent most of our time pacing around the bathroom. None of the houses had exactly what Ryouta wanted, but after the second visit, he said this property had the most potential to become perfect. Initially the closet was an “L” shape and was behind the bathroom, but he reconfigured the layout of the three rooms into what you see now. He basically switched the order of the bathroom and the closet. He can’t draw to save his life--how he graduated with a fashion degree is beyond me--so he used a ruler and drew a bunch of perpendicular lines until it ended up looking like a floor plan. I couldn’t tell what was what until he was finished.

  


**Kise** : Look, sometimes simple lines can convey complex ideas and I relied on that to get me through uni and it hasn’t failed me since. And as you can see, the contractor managed to get it because this layout is exactly what I envisioned. The work necessary to remodel this suite of rooms took the longest--even longer than my office.

  


**Kagami** : I’m glad that we were able to get the permits for both in time for the work to start around the same time. Otherwise, who knows how long it would have been before we could move in. It was enough that they had to redo the wood floors. And repaper the kitchen. Just remembering it stresses me out.

  


**Kise** : Yeah, but at least nothing went wrong with the bathroom. I can’t imagine how much scarier you would have been back then.

  


**Kagami** : I already apologized for my face.

  


**Kise** : HAHA! That’s right, you did.

 **Kagami** : The original bathroom had the same tile wall and floor as the guest bathroom.

  


**Kise** : A lot of it could be salvaged, but Taiga wanted something different. I told him to donate it to the school’s art department, but there are still stretches of tiled wall in the garage.

 **Kagami** : Soon, soon.

  


  


**Kise** : After we moved in, the bathroom was the first place we christened.

 **Kagami** : He looked at me and said, “let’s do the whole place.” And when he said it, I knew he meant that night.

 **Kise** : This old man wasn’t having it.

 **Kagami** : You’re older than me. Anyway, I was tired and I felt that, if anything else was going on that night, it would be in a bed.

 **Kise** : Yeah, the only thing that happened that night was deep sleep.

 **Kagami** : You were tired, too. And you know, since then--and he thinks I don’t know--Ryouta has kept track of where we’ve done it in the house so far.

 **Kise** : Why do you know something like that?! ...Oh, hey! Is that why you never stay too long in the guest rooms with me?

 **Kagami** : I have to draw the line somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!
> 
> Thanx so much for coming along this journey with me! I hope everyone had fun. When I first finished this story, I thought I'd never write another KagaKise fic because I put all the things I really wanted them to experience in this fic, but somehow I was able see another life for them. The first volume has been [posted](http://archiveofourown.org/series/363977).
> 
> Thanx again!
> 
> Here are some links in case you want to read the series from start to finish: [**AO3**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4745654) | [**QoF**](http://stories.qwerqshoppe.com/2015/07/14/no-sweet-talk/) (recommended for the full, intended experience)


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